Chapter 2 - Three Years Prior
"Sarah?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you're awake! You've been asleep for three whole days."
Rachel tried to sit up, but her strength failed her. She remained on the bed, her voice trembling as she spoke. Sarah leaned over her, eyes shimmering with undisguised joy. She looked healthier than Rachel remembered—younger, even. Her brows knitted in a familiar expression of concern. "You still look quite pale."
On the road to the monastery, Sarah's complexion had been ghastly. Three years Rachel's senior, Sarah had served her since Rachel was ten and was the person who understood her best. Sarah must have suffered greatly, unable to stop the villainous deeds that had eventually led to Rachel's broken engagement.
"I've been asleep for three days? Why...?"
"Oh, you collapsed with a sudden fever. Today was supposed to be your entrance ceremony, Ojou-sama. It's such a shame things turned out this way."
Sarah looked genuinely crestfallen. Rachel, however, struggled to grasp the situation. One phrase in particular caught her attention.
What did Sarah just say? An entrance ceremony?
"Um, by entrance ceremony... you don't mean for Torsova Academy of Magic, do you?"
"Yes, the entrance ceremony for Torsova Academy of Magic."
Rachel felt her entire body freeze. Her vision turned monochrome, and Sarah's disappointed voice—lamenting that she wouldn't get to see Rachel in her lovely new uniform—seemed to drift from a great distance.
That can't be right.
Rachel had definitely attended that ceremony. Three years ago, at age fifteen, she had stood as the representative of the new students—both as the Crown Prince's fiancée and as the student with the highest mana capacity.
Wait. I do remember catching a rare cold a few days before the ceremony. But I thought I slept for one day and recovered the next.
What did it mean that she had slept for three days? And if Sarah was telling the truth, was she back in time three years? Rachel frantically pulled at the collar of her nightgown to check her chest.
There was nothing. Her skin was white and flawless, without a single scar.
No. This is impossible. That pain was so real, like my heart was being gouged out. Even now, the memory brought a cold sweat to her brow.
Is this a convenient dream? Has God granted me a moment of peace before I pass to the other world? And have I been given this specific time—three years ago, when I felt no anxiety and believed a brilliant future awaited me?
In her state of utter confusion, Rachel didn't even notice Sarah leaving the room to fetch her mother and the doctor.